New Companions
Even when bone-deep fatigue weighs down your body and a heavy drowsiness numbs your mind, circumstances that deny you a peaceful rest can arise at any moment.
"Squeal! Wake up! Squeal!"
For instance, a massive Orc screaming directly into your ear.
"Neigh!"
Or the sound of horse hooves stomping threateningly close by.
"Squeal!"
"Neigh!"
To stop these two from continuing their racket, I had no choice but to force myself up.
"Kwek, I'm up. I'm awake. So shut it."
"Squeal. Are you alive?" The Boss Orc, seemingly not listening to a word I said, boomed his question once more.
"Kwek, of course I'm alive, that's why I'm standing. By the way, where are we?" The pitch-black surroundings made it clear it was night, but with nothing but trees in every direction, I couldn't gauge our location.
"Neigh?" Looking around, I spotted my brown horse hesitating a short distance away from the Boss Orc. Had it been hiding and then followed us? It was a miracle the Boss Orc hadn't eaten it.
When I reached out my hand, the brown horse skirted around the Boss Orc and approached me. It lowered its neck, gently nudging its head against my palm.
"Kwek. Wherever we are, at least I won't die alone."
"Squeal. Under the trees." The Boss Orc offered a polite but entirely unhelpful answer to my muttering.
"Kwek. Then how far are we from the cave?"
"Squeal! Until the sun went down! Squeal!"
"Kwek, I get it, so just lower your voice a bit. My head hurts." When I asked him to quiet down for the second time, the Boss Orc finally shut his mouth. Freed from the booming volume that rattled my skull, I was able to organize my thoughts.
...So he kept walking until sunset? That meant the sun had been up outside, which in turn meant daylight had broken while we were still inside the cave. I had been in there longer than I thought.
"Kwek. So you carried me all that time?"
"Squeal! Yes! Carried you!" It was an astonishing revelation. An Orc had trudged through the scorching sun just to keep me alive.
"Kwek. Why?"
"Squeal! Because you were dying!" No, I mean, why did you care? Once again, none of my questions were actually resolved, but I doubted I'd get a better answer even if I kept pressing.
"Kwek. Right. Thanks anyway."
"Squeal!" When I offered a response that was only natural for a human, the beast got incredibly excited for some reason and began stomping the ground.
"Kwek, damn it, quiet down. Fine, I'm not thankful. I'm not thankful, okay?"
"Squeal! Why are you not thankful? I saved you!" Now he was throwing a fit because I took it back. It seemed wiser to redirect his attention elsewhere.
"Kwek. What about the others?" When I introduced a new topic, he froze, unable to process the sudden shift.
"Squeal, don't know! Don't care about the others! Squeal!" To summarize: he didn't care about the other Orcs and had only saved me. He wasn't trying to challenge me to a test of strength like before; he had fled all this way purely to keep me alive.
Faced with a goodwill far heavier than expected, I stared at him, temporarily lost for words. Perhaps because he was talking about saving me, his eyes seemed to glint with a strange pride. Only then did I recall our last encounter—and the realization that, no matter how I looked at it, he might have felt I saved his life from Jin.
But still, were Orcs really a race capable of understanding gratitude? I cautiously spoke, keeping a close eye on the creature whose eyes were still shining.
"Kwek. Is the reason you saved me because I saved you?"
"Squeal! Yes!"
"...Kwek." It really was. It was bewildering, and at the same time, incredibly burdensome.
"Kwek. I'm grateful for this time. But you don't need to worry about what happened before. I didn't step in to save you."
"Squeal! You saved me!"
"Kwek. No, I didn't save your life for your sake. I only did it because it would be troublesome for me if you died. So there's no need to be grateful."
"Squeal! Doesn't matter! You still saved me!" He didn't think deeply enough to look past the outcome of my actions to my underlying motives. He simply thought and acted on pure instinct.
"Kwek. Weren't you supposed to kill me? Isn't that the only way the other Orcs will listen to you?"
"Squeal! Not right now!" He meant he didn't want to kill me at this moment. A creature living entirely in the present was truly unstoppable. Dumbfounded, a laugh slipped out of me.
As I let out a dry chuckle, the Boss Orc began circling the tree I was leaning against, grunting and squealing. Terrified by the sight, my horse hurriedly pressed its body close to mine.
Watching this ridiculous scene, any remaining disbelief washed away, and a corner of my mind felt a sense of relief. With something so absurd unfolding right before my eyes, the harsh reality of having my secrets exposed to the protagonist and nearly dying by his hand felt a little more distant.
The expressionless face of the protagonist as he dropped me without a moment's hesitation was still burned into my mind. To have my life threatened by the main character of a novel I used to love... A hot, boiling sensation welled up from deep within my chest.
"Kwek. That absolute bastard..." I was seething. Pure, unadulterated rage. Since coming to this world—no, in the last three years—my chest had never burned with such fury.
Even when he acted like a complete psychopath, the reason I had tolerated and understood him wasn't because I was particularly good-natured. It had just happened naturally. Because I knew his past, his present, and his future.
Though I could never admit it looking at his physical appearance, mentally, he was a brat ten years younger than me. I had thought of myself as mature—well, maybe not mature, but at least detached enough to overlook a kid's tantrums.
But that was over now. Resolving that once he saved the world, I would beat him half to death myself—regardless of my standing as an Imperial—I stood up. The horse rose along with me.
"Squeal! Where are you going?!" The Boss Orc asked as I suddenly prepared to leave. His eyes sparkled as they tracked my movements.
Since I had already delivered my thanks, there was nothing more to say to him. To be precise, I wanted to part ways before he snapped out of it and remembered he was supposed to defeat me.
"Squeal! I asked where you are going!" But it seemed my savior wanted to take me as his companion instead of the others.
"Kwek. Just to be sure, are you planning to follow me right now?" Oblivious to the dread in my question, he nodded vigorously.
"Kwek. I appreciate you saving me. But I prefer traveling alone. Besides, who knows when you'll decide you want to kill me again?"
"Squeal! Won't kill you!" The Boss Orc answered with absolute confidence.
"Kwek. So you don't want to kill me?"
"Squeal! That is not true either!" Unlike humans, who struggled to reconcile the contradictions in their hearts, the simple Orc was refreshingly blunt.
He probably didn't even ponder why two conflicting desires coexisted in his mind, nor did he worry about which one to choose; he just acted on instinct. I was sorry, but I had no desire to be at the mercy of his thoughtless whims.
From now on, I had to plan how to survive as an Orc in these mountains until I could return to my human form. Traveling with a guy who wanted to kill me and not kill me at the same time was definitely not part of that plan.
Fortunately, I knew deceiving this fellow wouldn't be difficult. I let out a sigh and spoke.
"Kwek. Fine. But I'm so thirsty right now that I can't take another step, so..."
I was about to ask him to fetch some water, but I stopped myself. Shaking off the Boss Orc was easy. I just needed to make up an excuse and send him far away.
Yet, for some reason, the words wouldn't come out. It wasn't like this was my first time using such a trick, and if it was about feeling indebted to him for saving my life, he had merely repaid his debt to me.
But what really bothered me was my back. It stung terribly. It was likely because he had mindlessly walked under the blazing sun.
No matter how stupid Orcs were, a creature of the Boss Orc's caliber should at least know to walk in the shade when the sun was harsh. Yet, my back stinging like this meant one of two things: either he had intended to roast me alive on his back, or he had run like mad without even thinking about shade.
Only then did I notice his slightly reddened arms. ...Damn it.
"Squeal! Can't move?" When I fell silent, the Boss Orc began inspecting my body.
"Kwek. No. I can move."
"Squeal! You said you couldn't move!"
"Kwek. I said no. I thought I couldn't, but looking at it again, I can."
When I changed my story, he tilted his head in confusion, then suddenly began hopping around while making an incredibly grating noise.
"Squeal! Foolish!" Only then did I realize that this unpleasant sound was his laughter.
To stop the noise, which felt even more grating now that I knew what it was, and to establish some rules for our temporary alliance, I spoke up.
"Kwek. If you're going to travel with me, there's something you must promise." As I spoke solemnly, his laughter gradually died down, and he began to focus on my words.
"Kwek. First, you do not eat this guy." When I patted the brown horse's back, the Boss Orc scowled.
"Squeal! Tasty meat! No reason not to!"
"Kwek. No, this guy isn't meat, he's a companion. We travel together."
Unconvinced, he glared at my companion, who was whinnying softly by my side. Sensing that a simple verbal warning wouldn't suffice, I sighed and continued.
"Kwek. Do you eat your own subordinates?"
"Squeal! No! Kill them, yes, but do not eat!"
"Kwek. Why is that?"
"Squeal? Because that is only natural!"
"Kwek. It's the same for me. This guy is my subordinate. Eating him is no different from eating another Orc."
"Squeal! Not an Orc!" Feeling a headache coming on from dealing with someone immune to analogies, I spoke again.
"Kwek. You and I are companions walking the same path for now, right?"
"Squeal! Yes!" Liking the word "companion," he raised his voice enthusiastically.
"Kwek. Right, but this horse and I are also companions. That means the three of us are companions."
"Squeal?" He tilted his head, momentarily confused. I quickly spoke before he could revert to his simple logic.
"Kwek. You said you don't eat your subordinates. Then what does that make eating a companion?"
"Squeal..." His eyes darted around as his slow brain struggled to process the concept, eventually locking eyes with the horse hiding behind me. For a few seconds, I could practically see new rules being established in the Boss Orc's head.
"Squeal! Companions must not be eaten!" The excited beast shouted, flailing his arms.
And so, a simple-minded Orc, a human-turned-Orc, and a horse officially became companions.